1. 19:49 15th Oct 2012

    Tags: E.B. White

    INTERVIEWER: Does the finished product need a gestation period—that is, do you put a finished work away and look at it a month hence?

    WHITE: It depends on what kind of product it is. Many a poem could well use more than nine months. On the other hand, a newspaper report of a fire in a warehouse can’t be expected to enjoy a gestation period.
    When I finished Charlotte’s Web, I put it away, feeling that something was wrong. The story had taken me two years to write, working on and off, but I was in no particular hurry. I took another year to rewrite it, and it was a year well spent. If I write something and feel doubtful about it, I soak it away. The passage of time can be a help in evaluating it. But in general, I tend to rush into print, riding a wave of emotion.

    — Paris Review - The Art of the Essay No. 1, E. B. White